A Chinese rocket carrying a probe（探测器）destined（预定） for the moon has been sent into space.

    A Long March 3C rocket with the Chang’e -2 probe took off from Xichang launch centre at about 11: 00 GMT.

    The rocket will shoot the craft into the trans-lunar orbit（绕月轨道）, after which the satellite is expected to reach the moon in about five days. Chang’e -2 will be used to test key technologies and collect data for future landings. China says it will send a rover（漫游者） on its next mission, and it also has ambitions to put humans on the surface of the lunar body at some future date. The Xinhua News Agency said Chang’e -2 would circle just 15 km (nine miles) above the rocky terrain（地带）in order to take photographs of possible landing locations.

    It is China’s second lunar probe—the first was launched in 2007. The craft stayed in space for 16 months before being intentionally crashed onto the moon’s surface. China launched its first manned flight into low-earth orbit in 2003; and two more followed, with the most recent one in 2008. So far, only three countries have managed to independently send humans into space: China, Russia and the US.

    In 2008, a Chinese astronaut, fighter pilot Zhai Zhigang, performed a spacewalk—the first in China’s history. He stayed outside the Shenzhou-7 capsule for 15 minutes; the exercise was seen as the key to China’s ambition to build an orbiting station in the near future.

67. What’s Chang’e -2’s main task according to this passage?

A. Landing on the moon just as the first lunar probe.

B. Comparing with the first lunar probe.

C. Competing with Russia’s and the US’s space craft.

D. Testing technologies and collecting data for future landings.

68. Which of the following about Chang’e -2 is TRUE?

A. Its travel to the moon lasts about five days.

B. It will put humans on the surface of the moon.

C. It travels with Long March 3C rocket all the way.

D. It will take photographs of the moon on the trans-lunar orbit.

69. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. China Launches Moon Mission

B. Chang’e -2 Is More Advanced than Shenzhou-7

C. China’s Space Program Makes Great Progress

D. China Equals Russia and the US in Space Technologies

70. The underlined word“craft” in the third paragraph refers to_____.

A. Chang’e -1 probe

B. Chang’e -2 probe

C. a rover

D. the Shenzhou-7 capsule

Mr. Hart, a London taxi driver, has a new black taxi. He hurries through the busy   36  every day.
One day when he was having a short rest, a young man jumped into his  37  .
“To the station as 38 as you can,” shouted the man in a very  39  way. “My 40  leaves at three o’clock.”
Mr. Hart did his best, but there was a lot of traffic. At every corner there was a  41  light.
The young man said,” Hurry up, man! I don’t want to  42  my train.”
“And I don’t want to have an  43  ,” replied Mr. Hart quickly.
While he was  44 , Mr. Hart suddenly recognized the man’s  45 . He was a 46 . The police were looking for him. His picture was in the  47  that he read.
Mr. Hart raced through the streets and  48  through red lights. Soon there was a police car  49  him. Mr. Hart raced on until he  50  the station. He stopped in front of the station at two minutes  51  three. The young man quickly jumped out of the taxi, and ran into the station.
“ 52 !” cried Mr. Hart. At the moment the police car stopped, too. “Quick! He is the thief!” shouted Mr. Hart. Two policeman  53  into the station. Three minutes later they  54  with the young man.
“well  55 !” a policeman said to Mr. Hart as they were taking the thief to the police car.

Three years ago, five parrots were set free in a wild place of Arizona, thousands of miles from the Channel Islands in Jersey where they had been looked after by zookeepers. No evolutionary strategies informed them how to behave in this new landscape of mountainous pine forest unoccupied by their kind for 50 years. To the researchers’ surprise, they failed to make contact with a group of wild parrots imported from Mexico and set free at the same time. Within 24 hours the reintroducing ended in failure, and the poor birds were back in cages, on their way to the safety of the Arizona reintroduction programme.  

Ever since then, the programme has enjoyed great success, mainly because the birds now being set free are Mexican birds illegally caught in the wild, confiscated （没收） on arrival north of the border, and raised by their parents in the safety of the programme. The experience shows how little we know about the behaviour and psychology （心理） of parrots, as Peter Bennett, a bird researcher, points out: “Reintroducing species of high intelligence like parrots is a lot more difficult. People like parrots, always treating them as nothing more than pets or valuable ‘collectables’.”  

Now that many species of parrot are in immediate danger of dying out, biologists are working together to study the natural history and the behaviour of this family of birds. Last year was an important turning point: conservationists founded the World Parrot Trust, based at Hayle in Cornwall, to support research into both wild and caged birds.  

Research on parrots is vital for two reasons. First, as the Arizona programme showed, when reintroducing parrots to the wild, we need to be aware of what the birds must know if they are to survive in their natural home. We also need to learn more about the needs of parrots kept as pets, particularly as the Trust’s campaign does not attempt to discourage the practice, but rather urges people who buy parrots as pets to choose birds raised by humans.  

55. What do we know about the area where the five parrots were reintroduced?  

A. Its landscape is new to parrots of their kind.  

B. It used to be home to parrots of their kind.  

C. It is close to where they had been kept.  

D. Pine trees were planted to attract birds.  

56. The reintroducing experience three years ago shows that man-raised parrots  

A. can find their way back home in Jersey  

B. are unable to recognize their parents  

C. are unable to adapt to the wild  

D. can produce a new species  

57. Why are researches on parrots important according to the passage?  

A. The Trust shows great concern for the programme.  

B. We need to know more about how to preserve parrots.  

C. Many people are interested in collecting parrots.  

D. Parrots’ intelligence may some day benefit people.  

58. According to the passage, people are advised ______.  

A. to treat wild and caged parrots equally  

B. to set up comfortable homes for parrots  

C. not to keep wild parrots as pets  

D. not to let more parrots go to the wild  

    Tony Wrench and his wife Faith, wearing the traditional woolly jacket, have set up their home in the shadows of Preseli Mountains.

    They built the house in the winter of 1997 with the dream of living what they call“low-impact lives”. Their dream is to get close to nature, have little pollution and prove they can change the world. But their action was stopped almost a year later by the local government. Eventually, a new rule about environment protection was brought and the government encouraged the couple to carry on their “low-impact lives”.

    The completed house is built around a frame of 200 firs(冷杉木)and made entirely of natural materials, in a style that is part-native American, part-ancient Celt. Mr. Wrench said this house was more like a sort of large basket.  The most expensive part of the building was the rubber (橡胶 ) pond-liner for the roof at ￡650—all in it cost a grand total of￡3, 000, the labor being supplied by the couple and a few good friends. The idea is to try to make the most of the natural resources around them, reducing their impact as much as possible on the environment.

    Electricity is generated from three solar panels on the roof and a small windmill. Food is mostly home-grown (自产的) and they even make their own wine from a vine（藤）on the roof. Drinking water comes from the mountain stream and hot water is more or less on-tap through a back-boiler system fixed up to the back of the fire by the old whisky barrel(桶).

    Waste is dealt with by being rotted, which in turn provides fertilizer for the corns and vegetables etc. . They are by no means tired of life; on the contrary they like it. Mr. Wrench in particular likes nothing better than a nice hot bath. They wait for enough wind to charge the laptop so they can watch a DVD in the evening.

    Their life is not a challenge of existence; they say—just an attempt to keep their footsteps on the planet as light as possible.

55. What can we know from the passage?

A. Mr. Wrench planned to run a wine factory when he was young.

B. Mr. Wrench and Faith love their house and have been in it for twenty years.

C. Mr. Wrench and Faith’s behavior once was forbidden by the local government.

D. Mr. Wrench and Faith can’t watch TV in their house because there’s no electricity.

56. From the text we learn that the couple’s house______.

A. cost them 3, 650 pounds in all

B. is only made of about 200 firs

C. is not strong enough to resist the wind

D. was built by them and some of their friends

57. The food that the couple eat is mostly______.

A. produced by themselves

B. bought from a supermarket

C. offered by the government

D. grown on the roof of their house

58. According to the passage, the waste is______.

A. dealt with to help crops grow better

B. thrown away

C. buried deeply

D. sold to other farmers

Our tolerating ability is indeed way beyond our imagination. But not until the very critical moment will we     21    our potential tolerating ability.
There was a woman in the countryside who got married at the age of 18 and had to escape with her two daughters and a son wherever she could at the age of 26 due to the Japanese army’s invasion. Many people in the village at that time could not     22   the suffering of being a fugitive（亡命者） and wanted to commit suicide. After she knew about it, she would come to those    23     ,saying, “Don’t do that     24     thing. There are no such setbacks(挫折) that we could not overcome!”
Finally she insisted until the day when all the Japanese armies were kicked out of China.   25   , her son died of disease without sufficient     26      and nutrition in those days of hardships. Her husband, after knowing the death of his son, lay in bed for two days without eating and drinking anything. She teared to her husband and said, “We have a tough destiny, but however tough our lives will be, we should also     27   . Though our son has passed away, we can have another. ”
After giving birth to the second    28    , her husband died of edema（水肿病）, which almost    29  her away. But eventually, she    30     and held the three young children in her arms, saying, “My sweet hearts, don’t feel scared. You still have me, your dear mum!”
It took her pain efforts to     31    her children up and the life of her family was getting better and better. Two daughters were married and so was his son finally. She said to everyone she met, “Look! What I said is     32    right. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome! My life is so happy now!” She was      33    gradually and could not do the farm work anymore. So she stayed at home and did some sewing work.
Nevertheless, the Heaven seemed to show no affection to her who had undergone a   34   life. She got her leg broken      35     when she was nursing her grandson. Due to her old age that posed a great risk to her operation, she did not receive operation and had to lie in bed all day long. Her children all cried heavily, while she merely said, “Why do you cry? I am still living.”
     36     she could not rise from bed, she did not complain about anything and anybody. Instead, she sat on the bed and did some sewing work. She had learnt scarves-weaving, crafts-making, etc. All her neighbors spoke      37     of her skills and came to learn from her.
She lived until 86. Before she went to Heaven, she said to her children, “You all should live to your best. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome!”
We will only get to realize our own iron will and strong tolerating ability after getting   38    heavily. Therefore, no matter what you are suffering from now, do not merely complain about the   39     of our destiny and maintain low-spirited all the time. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome. Only those who have no confidence and courage to overcome setbacks will be    40     at last!